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Are the Garmin edge 705 users out there happy?


Bat-ass

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I'm considering getting a Garmin 705, and was wondering about the pro's and con's? any user feedback would be appreciated.

Things like:- How it holds up to rough MTB / how secure the mount is / battery life / user friendlyness?

 

thanks

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Had mine for 2 years now and very happy. Just update the software through the website when it is available. Only issue is I have a 300km race coming up and not sure how long the battery will last. Should be ok for about 15 hours. Awesome gadget. Stands up with no issues to any MTB race/ride. Mount ok but seen one break before. Just keep checking to make sure it is there. User friendly is quick to master. Easy to work. 9 out of 10 for this item for me.

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Ive never had problems, but I have read about other guys having problems. do a search on the hub and see what u come up with

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I have had mine for more than two years now and love it. Used mainly on the road but a bit of mountain biking the last three months.

 

You need to stabalise the mounting on the stem otherwise it tends to break the mount inside.

 

I have only had one problem with the speed cadence sensor where it got some water in it but opened it myself dried it out and just glued it back together and worked fine after that. I think this was when I washed to bike and got some water all over the sensor so be varefull with that

 

The range of reception is very good as I have been up to 10 meters away from the bike and it still receives.

 

Battery life is about 12 - 14 hours before a recharge is required.

 

You need to study it a bit by going through all the settings and options on the unit as the user manual is not very good. There are certain button functions etc that is not even listed in the manual as well as how certin things operate ie you can pair three different speed cadence sensors one for each bike with the unit and you then only select which bike you are on and it automatically detects the sensor.

 

The customized display screen is great as you can slect how many items you want on each screen and then you can select which items you want where on your screen layout.

 

A lot of people complain about the training center but for me it works better than Sportstrack for my puroposes.

 

The programming for training intervals and zones is fantastic and the flexability on the programing is really good to allow you preprogram custom training excercises. The recording is also great when doing this as each section of your training interval is recorded as a lap section so you can easily compare recovery times between sessions etc.

 

It is however affected by temprature or something a bit as sometimes we do routes where we come back the same way and the elevation is not the same. I think they have solved this with upgrades on the last recordings that I have seen.

 

Data interfacing with the PC via standard USB is also a plus as you do not need any special accessories.

 

 

So all in all from me a big thumbs up.

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Had mine fly off the handlebar because I didn't clip it in properly and has some nice personalised scratches now and the rubber USB cover broke off after a couple of weeks, but apart from that it records data beautifully and sits reasonably secure. Just had some download issues where it did not want to download data from the very last ride. Cleared the memory and seems to be OK now, but I know it can sometimes be a bit temperamental (according to others)

 

Nice piece of kit even if it is not as bombproof as my old Polar, and I aint going back! NAvigation is not the greatest (compared to other Garmin products I have) and I think they can improve the text display on screen (very crowded), but it's the best out there for cycling.

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I have mine now for 3 months, excellent piece of equipment. Very user friendly, until now it stood up to all the bumps and knocks of MTB. We were exploring new training routes on Saturday and it was so great to constantly see where you are going. I have only heard of broken mounting brackets but haven't had that problem yet. The virtual training partner comes in very handy. Make sure you take the full package, heart rate monitor and cadence. Good luck and enjoy.

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Great Product - got mine in Sep 2008. Still working perfect. I get about 12-13 hours before a charge. Also did software updates.

 

I do use the garmin for Both MTB and road and have both bike profiles on unit. . .

 

Great Procudt and very accurate !

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Wonderfull gadget! make sure you have Google Earth installed on your pc so you can view your rides in it. You can also receive .GPX files from friends' rides via e-mail, or wireless between units! - Pricey, but worthwhile unit.

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Had mine for 18 months now. Great little gadget but expensive.

 

Installed the latest firmware recently. Left the unit on by accident and after battery went flat, I lost all my history and it went back to factory settings. Have not experienced this before. Is it normal?

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There're quite a few reports on the Garmin forums of the 3.2 firmware causing serious issues with rides not being saved correctly.

 

Have a read here: https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21

 

Personally, I'm still on FW 2.9 since it works properly for the features I use most and I'm not too bothered by any of the issues the later firmwares fix.

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Rolled back my latest FW after the flippen ride did not even record. :angry:

 

Apart from that I am very happy and enjoy the 705.

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Had mine 2 years, great product! Only problem I started having lately is that sometimes it does not calculate my ascent when I start a new ride. Have to stop the unit, clear the ride and restart. Usually works great thereafter, just a bit annoying, as you have to ride and check whether is it working, if not reset the ride.

 

A temperature gauge and a cappuccino maker are the only things missing!

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Is Garmin 705 fully compatible with Apple Mac (Snow Leopard)? I know that Polar only supports one or two of their gadgets (i.e.CS600) on Mac... :angry:

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Is Garmin 705 fully compatible with Apple Mac (Snow Leopard)? I know that Polar only supports one or two of their gadgets (i.e.CS600) on Mac... :angry:

 

Hi Gerhard

Garmin has a Training Center for Mac and training center reads all Edge Models in Windows. Just download training center then you can use mine to test. Alex has a 500 you can test.

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